Hypothalamic and pancreatic lesions with diabetes mellitus.

A case is reported of a neoplasm of mixed mesenchymal and neuroepithelial origin consisting of plasmacytoma, lymphoma, ganglioneuroma, and astrocytoma in the same mass. The tumour arose in the hypothalamus of a 43 year old diabetic woman who also had alpha cell hyperplasia and beta cell hypoplasia of the islets of Langerhans. It is suggested that both hypothalamic and pancreatic lesions produced diabetes mellitus in this patient.